McKinney Community Garden Lives Up to City’s Slogan

McKinney is known for being “Unique by Nature” for many reasons; one is because of community involvement. And what better way to be involved than a community garden?

It is exactly what it sounds like, the community comes together to cultivate a plot of land and organically grow vegetables to share locally. In fact, thanks to Jeremiah Hammer, Rick Moreno and David Bernard, McKinney now has its own community garden, which is located at Holy Family School.

“I am the garden coordinator,” Hammer said. “I help with planning and the day-to-day operations. David and Rick started the idea around this time last year and we had meetings to gauge everyone’s interest.”

Holy Family generously donated the garden, which is enough for about 60-70 plots. Local families and businesses donate their time and machinery to help the cause.

“We want to teach others to cultivate the land.” Hammer said. “Gardening is a skill and it teaches you how to sustain life. The importance of the community garden is sharing that knowledge with one another to produce products to help others.”

In about a week, plots will available for rent. Anyone is welcome to rent the plots, and the produce can be given to anyone, whether it’s family or donated to a local food bank.

“The hardest thing about gardening is patience.” Hammer said. “We’ve been so lucky to get all of our resources just at the right time. It’s great because it’s all donated locally from people in McKinney. We’ve gotten a tractor and plow and it all comes together perfectly. You just have to be patient.”

The garden is a great way to get people involved in the community and try something new. There is a job for everyone, even if you don’t want to do the dirty work.

“Even if you don’t want to get your hands dirty, we would love to have people contribute to get the project off the ground.” Hammer said. “It’s not just about the vegetables, it’s about the community coming together. We want anyone who is remotely interested to come out and see it, it’s amazing.”

In the near future, there will be a volunteer day for anyone who wants to help to come out to Holy Family and lend a hand to make the garden a success.